Page 11 of Dragon Fight

“Of course, milord.”

“Well then, lads, let's not dilly dally. We’ll leave the women to their party planning and enjoy some of the more civilised pleasures the world can offer.”

Draven, Flynn and Brom rose automatically, as this was a well-established tradition in noble houses. Men would retire to do whatever secret manly things they felt they could only do without a feminine audience, and women would be left to knit or chatter or whatever else was seen to be acceptable for our sex. Soren and Ged looked to me for confirmation.

“Oh, go on,” Kay said, forcing herself to smile. “Himself has a new bottle of port he’s been dying to share and some of those foul-smelling cigars from the continent, which men seem to love. I’ll just show Pippin to her room and make sure she and Glimmer are well settled.”

I don’t needto be carried, Glimmer told me as we re-entered the living room, even though her eyes were heavily lidded.Just open the front door and I’ll sleep outside with my mates.

Glimmer, it's freezing outside, I told her,and it might rain.

I’m a dragon, not washing on the line. I’ll not be ruined by a little storm.

I relayed the conversation to Kay, though with considerably more polite terms, and she smiled as we let my dragon out and watched her march out into the darkness.

“Do dragons become teenagers just like boys do?” she asked me with a sigh. “Because if they do, you’ll be in for a rough time. Brom and Draven—he was fostered here by his mother for some time, you see—they were holy terrors when they got tall and their voices started to break.”

“I’m not sure,” I replied. “I wasn’t exactly prepared for becoming a dragon rider, nor anyone’s wife.” Kay’s eyes widened at that. “I am from good stock and am now in possession of my father’s estate, but until recently I worked as a pig herder.”

“A pig herder? How on earth?”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” I said. And I proceeded to fill her in as we walked back inside and she led me up the stairs.

“Well, I never,”she said as we stood in a darkened hallway, only the small lamps hanging from the walls providing us with some illumination. “But you got it all back? And my son’s dragon ate those devils up?” I nodded. “Well, good riddance to bad rubbish I say, and good for you. Now, while those men are enjoying those ridiculous pleasures of theirs, I wanted to ask…” She opened one door to reveal a room with a huge bed obviously made for a couple. “As for sleeping arrangements, did you wish to sleep in here or to have your own room?”

That was an odd question, especially since it’d just been announced I’d married her son. Most newlyweds were notorious for being unable to keep their hands off each other, but I assumed she was just being conciliatory. She didn’t know what stage our relationship was at, other than the fact we’d apparently been swept up in a night of passion courtesy of Zafira.

“Oh, I think we’ll both sleep in here,” I said, “though if possible, it would be good to house the rest of the wing in the adjoining rooms. We tend to always bunk in together. Soren swears it helps with morale.”

Soren swore no such thing, but it was much more palatable than the truth. Though my fake excuse didn’t quite have the effect I expected. Kay winced just for a minute, the pained expression there and gone again so fast it was hard to know if I’d actually seen anything at all.

“Of course, dear,” she replied, patting me on the arm. “I’ll let the maids know. Now unless there’s anything else?”

“No, and thank you for your kind welcome. I apologise but with the day I’ve had I’m dead on my feet.”

“Sleep then,” she told me, “and I’ll have some of the kitchen lads bring your bags up. You’ll feel like a whole new woman in the morning.”

She wasright in the end, but not in the way she thought. I retired to bed, slipping under the stone warmed covers in just my shirt, snuggling down and falling to sleep almost immediately. But at some point in the night, that was disturbed. A heavy body landed beside me, then another shuffled me closer, putting me at the centre of the mattress. Muffled complaints made clear a process was being fought out about who got to sleep with me, but while I tried to raise my head, I failed to open my eyes. Warm lips pressed themselves to my forehead, stinking of port and cigar smoke, but it didn’t stop me from nestling down on the connected chest.

More arms, more legs tangled with mine, holding my hand, cradling me close and right now that was enough. I fell back into sleep like a deep sea diver, but when I did, I saw a pair of cool blue eyes watching me in my dreams. Did they do so with cruel amusement or was it malice? I couldn’t decide and then I was tugged down deeper into the darkness.

8

To be woken with kisses is quite the experience, which I think every woman should have at least once in her life. But being woken with multiple kisses? I was floating along in that strange space between sleep and consciousness when I felt the first. A prickly kiss to my shoulder, so it was any of them but Flynn, then another, before something very hard was pressed against my buttocks.

Ged, then.

Before I could respond, more kisses were pressed to my forehead, my cheeks, then my neck. With no accompanying sensation of a beard, apart from a small rasp of stubble, I knew it had to be Flynn. As I blindly sought his mouth, finding it and claiming it, hands stroked down my flanks, down my arms and along my stomach, awakening my body everywhere I was touched. Then my chin was tipped up to kiss one set of lips, then another. I wasn’t even able to take a breath between kisses before I was passed on again. I felt heavy, limp with pleasure. And then the door was thrust open.

“Gods, Draven!” Flynn growled. “Are you determined to be a third wheel?”

I opened my eyes and blinked at the sight of Draven, perfectly dressed, standing just inside the room, staring down at the five of us. It seemed that sometime in the night, all four of my mates had come to settle in the bed around me, the only nod to decency being the fact they all still had their pants on.

But I didn’t.

And that was something the prince was fully aware of, because the blankets had been entirely pushed to the bottom of the bed. As he stared, there was a strange expression on his face: partially his usual hauteur, partially… longing? Need? Jealousy? It was so difficult to tell and he put his social mask on too quickly for me to analyse it any further.

“The maids will be coming up and they’ll see that all the other beds are just as perfect as they were when they made them last,” he told us.

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